Ketamine hydrochloride or (RS)-2-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-methylaminocyclohexan-1-one, a non-competitive antagonist of medullary post-synaptic NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) glutamate receptors, is a product used in France in human and veterinary anesthesia. It is characterized by a general anesthetic effect and a rapid action. It can be used as a single anesthetic agent: particularly suitable for interventions of short duration; it also makes it possible, through repeated injections or through its use by intravenous infusion, to obtain prolonged anesthesia for several hours. It can also be used either as an inducer of anesthesia before the administration of other anesthetic agents, or as a potentiator of low-potency anesthetic agents, such as nitrous oxide.
It is, moreover, used outside the context of the marketing authorization (MA), as an analgesic, in particular for the treatment of acute pain, in particular in pediatrics.
The pharmaceutical specialty products based on ketamine that are currently on the market in France are injectable solutions intended for intravenous or intramuscular administration, routes which are difficult to access in children.